Ballad of Unexpected Heroes
by Ezic17
Summary: Junction City is a thriving metropolis on the East Coast filled with crime families and heroes. The city is protected by an organization of super powered heroes that are called Hearth. This story follows a young thief named Shadow who is invited to the city to help pull of a dangerous job, trying to outrun his past. Also on Wattpad Spotify playlist coming soon!
1. Prologue

Prologue

Eyes open to nothing but black. I realize I'm standing near a tree line in a small hollow, looking up at the star dotted sky. It was so beautiful. Then it hits me. Where am I? How did I get here? What's burning? Burning?! I turned around to see that I was only about fifty yards away from my small hometown, which was being consumed by a massive fire. Cinders and smoke were rising into the air; you could've easily seen the fire from miles away. I watched in horror as the wooden houses were being swallowed by the fire, there were a few bodies that I could see still burning in the streets, other people were trying to put out the fire but to no avail; whoever started this fire was good. But one of the worse things about this whole scene was the fact that I couldn't hear anything. There was absolutely no sound except for the high pitched screeching of shellshock. Amidst all the chaos that was going on, there was one thing that sent chills down my spine.

It was him.

He was the last thing I wanted to see. He was standing near some trees on the edge of town, his golden eyes piercing through me like knives. His face was silhouetted with shadows from the fire; the only ways I was able to tell it was him was his stance and those golden eyes. I could see his mouth moving but I couldn't hear what he was saying. There was a flash of green then, once again, everything went black.


	2. Chapter 1: City by the Bay

Chapter 1: City by the Bay

The airbrakes of the Greyhound bus would cause Shadow's eyes to open. He had no idea how long he'd been asleep, but apparently it was long enough for him to drool down the window. He groggily looked around out the window of the bus as he massaged his stiff neck. Junction City: one of the largest cities on the East coast and home of a crescent shaped bay and a lot of organized crime. He had heard of Junction City, but then again who hadn't? He hadn't visited the city yet and would always say it was too crowded for a thief like him, but the truth was that he was a little intimidated to try and steal from the big city banks. The bus seemed to be parked on the edge of downtown since the buildings seemed to get bigger when he looked in the direction of the bay, which was to the East. He was too busy looking out the window to hear what all the bus driver had to say and only heard "enjoy your stay".

"…Should probably pay more attention" Shadow sighs as he stands up and stretches a bit, waiting for a hole to open in the aisleway. Seeing his chance, he grabs his backpack and slips into the aisle, slowly making his way to the front then out of the bus. The sun seemed a bit brighter than it was inside the bus, which annoyed him for the moment as he shielded his golden eyes from the brightness. His black, chin length parted hair was starting to heat up from the July sun, but not as much as his faded black long sleeve shirt or dark gray pants. Shadow appeared to be 18 or 19 and a little on the pale side, his body was rather lean, yet he still had some muscle. He also had a scar that ran from his left eyebrow straight down and onto his cheek, luckily missing his eyeball. Looking up a moment to take everything in, he was correct in the fact that he was basically on the edge of downtown, but he had some place he was supposed to be. That was a problem since he didn't know where that was.

He lights up a cigarette with a zippo that had a smiley face on it, slings his backpack over his shoulder, and pulled out the little piece of paper from his pocket that had where he was supposed to go. Feeling the nicotine run down his spine made him shiver a moment. It had been too long without a smoke, and the nicotine high was starting to set in. His vision blurred for a moment when looking at the paper due to the nicotine high. He shakes his head a moment to wipe away the high and was able to read the paper: "1274 N 22nd St".

Shadow would ask a few people passing by for some help figuring out how to get to his destination, though everyone passed him by since he looked kind of homeless with his not so well-kept clothes and dirty shoes. Getting fed up with the lack of help after ten minutes, he flags down a passing taxi and gets inside. Telling the driver the address he needed, the driver speeds off towards downtown. Shadow was looking out the windows at the street signs and what was visible as they went through intersections. He was building a map in his mind of the city's layout that he had seen so far.

With all the lights and traffic, the ride took about 20 minutes. "Here we are" the driver says before telling Shadow the total. Shadow pulls out a small wad of cash and pays the driver a little more than necessary.

"Right here?" Shadow asks pointing out the window.

"Yeah. Now get out, kid. I've got money to make" the driver grumbles.

Shadow gets out and the taxi speeds off. The corner he was dropped off on appeared to be connected to a main artery that ran straight through downtown all the way to the to the bay to the East. He turns and looks at the large white granite building with matching steps, the discolored bronze sign above the main doors read "CITY BANK" in big block letters with "EST. 1873" underneath. The area the bank was in seemed rather busy and the bank itself looked like one of the bigger banks in the city. Climbing up the short flight of stairs Shadow was able to partially see inside through the darker tinted glass to see multiple people waiting in line to be served and a handful of security guards stationed around the lobby. There was the unmistakable feeling of somebody watching him from some unseen location; he decided that it was probably just nerves and that there were plenty of people who looked at him, even for a moment, as he made his ascent. He takes a deep breath and walks inside, the guards nearest the main doors would instantly eye him up. He acted casually as he looked around a bit like a tourist, taking in the marble floors and chandeliers that seemed as old as the bronze sign on the building. But what he was really doing was locating all the cameras and the positions of the guards, as well as where the old-style vault was. Noticing the vault was closed, he let out a soft sigh and went over to get in line with the other customers so that he didn't draw any unneeded attention to himself.

He stood in for a good while since there was at least 15 people ahead of him, which he didn't mind. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do here, but he had a good idea though. Why send a thief to a bank if you didn't want it robbed? That was the conclusion he came up with. The heist wouldn't be hard so long as he could get a visual of the inside of the vault, which seemed like he wouldn't be able to do since the large metal door of the vault seemed to stay closed. The real question was what was he supposed to do after he pulled it off? He kept the vault in his peripherals as he waited in line, acting like he was admiring the architecture to pass the time since he only had a flip phone with about 15% battery life.

Soon it was his turn up at one of the bank tellers and he smiled when he got up to the window, "Hi, I'm new in town and was looking to start an account here. I'm kind of hoping you're who I need to talk to for that since I waited all that time…" Shadow says with an embarrassed laugh. The bank teller looked him over and concealed a sigh.

"No, I'm sorry. That would be with Diane.." The bank teller says before looking over at one of the offices that were in the lobby. "But it looks like she's out at lunch. You're welcome to sit and wait for her" the teller says with her best customer service smile and pointing in the direction of where he could wait.

"Oh. Well, thank you for your time!" Shadow smiles before walking over and sitting in one of the leather chairs that had a decent enough view of the vault and sets his backpack between his feet. He would sit there for about 12 minutes, periodically watching the vault and trying to decide if he'd actually start an account if this Diane person ever came back from lunch.

And then it happened. A different bank teller than before and a security guard walk over to the vault and start unlocking the door. He had to do his best to contain his smile and pulls out his flip phone. He acts like he was a little upset at how long he waited for Diane and stands up, stretching his arms as he glimpses the inside of the vault, which was all he needed. He grabs his backpack, putting it on as he makes his way out the door. Just as the door closed behind him an older lady comes from one of the inner rooms of the bank and sits down at the desk he was waiting for.

Jogging down the steps, Shadow lands on the sidewalk and stops to light a cigarette. "Might as well explore while I wait" he mutters to himself before aimlessly walking down the street, taking in everything around him as he walked and remembering what was where and which streets connected which.

"Hey. Yeah, it's me. Looks like he left empty handed." Somebody would groan into a phone from the crowded street, "I thought you said he would get it on the first try?"

"He will, just give him some time to plan. This is his first run here, he doesn't want to fuck it up. Just hang out there for a while, it's not like you've got anything better to do" the voice says from the other end of the phone.

It was just about 6pm when Shadow found his way back near where the bank was, and he had mapped out a good portion of the area as well as get himself something to eat. The amount of people walking down the sidewalk didn't seem to change at all and he assumed that the bank itself would be empty besides one or two security guards stationed inside since it was after business hours. This was no problem though.

He walked with the flow of people past the bank and casually ducked down an alleyway that was about a half of a block from the bank itself. He steps next to a dumpster to gain some cover from the main road he just left. He takes a breath before tying a black bandana around his head to cover up the lower half of his face.

It was time to move. He didn't really have much of a game plan, but did he really need a plan besides get in, get a decent amount of money, and get out? He shakes his head to get rid of the negative thoughts and looks down the alley at the street one more time. "Enough wasting time" he says to himself, pulling out a small flashlight from his backpack, before he disappears in a wisp of black smoke, teleporting himself inside of the vault he waited so long to get a glimpse of.

Shadow was what the scientific community would call a Meta, a person with some sort of power that made them different than the rest of humanity. Most Metas had only one power, but there was a small percentage that could have multiple. He let out a sigh of relief as he looked around vault with his flashlight. Shadow is able to teleport anywhere he's seen within a certain range. The problem, though, is that he could teleport into a solid object and either paralyze or kill him, making it very dangerous for him to teleport somewhere he's never seen.

He shines his light around the vault and decides to get busy taking whatever he could get. Shadow was carefully checking each stack of money for ink packets and extracting them when necessary when his phone started to vibrate from a text message.  
"Who the fuck…" he whispers before fishing the phone from his pocket and flipping it open.

The text would read _"You triggered the silent alarm. Authorities are almost on you. Get out, idio_t". Shadow looked at the text and the fact that the person who texted him had no number made him wonder if they were to be trusted, and how much time he had to get out of there. That's when he heard the locking mechanism of the vault's door start to move.

"Guess this'll have to do" Shadow shrugs as he hurriedly grabbed his backpack full of cash and teleported back next to the dumpster, slumping against the wall next to it. He could hear the police sirens from outside of the bank as he lowered the bandana from his face to be around his neck.

The vault door would be opened by one of the security guards on staff with five police officers surrounding the vault, all with guns aimed inside the vault. The six of them looked quite surprised to see the vault empty as the black wisp of smoke from Shadow's teleporting had just about dissipated.

"Nobody snuck in, but someone was clearly in here" the security guard admits a bit baffled.

"Sounds like a teleporter to me" a seventh person would say as he walks up behind the police, who were in the middle of lowering their weapons when they turned to look at him. The man was in his early 20s, rather muscular with spiky blonde hair. He wore military style boots and pants, a white t-shirt, and a looser fitting blue canvas jacket that said HEARTH in white block letters across back shoulders.

Seeing the newcomer, two of the police officers' faces light up. "Hey! You're that Hearth newby Jason Fox!" one of the officers says while the others watched Jason rub the back of his neck.

"Ya caught me" Jason laughs, "Happened to be in the area with my partner and heard the sirens. Figured we'd check out the situation. Sadly though, there really isn't much we can do here since the perp isn't here".

"Your partner?" a different officer asks looking around, "Where are they?"

Shadow had lit a cigarette for a job well done and was sitting against a wall when his phone vibrated again. Checking his phone, he got another text from some unknown person giving him an address. "Boy do I love this ominous shit" he lies, standing up with a groan and closing his flip phone. He unties his bandana and slips it in his back pocket on his way back to the main street.

Seamlessly merging with the crowd, Shadow walks away from the bank, heading East towards the bay. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to go, but figured he would check out more of downtown before he got a cab to go wherever he was supposed to go. He had just crossed a street about three blocks from the bank when he bumped into someone on the corner. "Pardon me," Shadow says turning to look at who he bumped into.

"It's no problem" a woman smiles with a slight accent that he couldn't place, then stops to look at him like he was famous, "Do I know you?". The woman had an otherworldly look about her: long naturally white hair pulled back in a ponytail except for a few strands that fell into her face, large emerald green eyes, olive skin, and her ears came to a bit of a point. Her age was hard to read, but she looked to be in her 20s. She wore a white blouse under a blue canvas jacket with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a pair of darker colored jeans, and sandals with a slightly wedged heel.

Hearing the question, Shadow stops a moment to get a better look at her, "Probably not" he admits with a friendly smile before continuing on his way, putting a hand in his pocket.

"I think I do…" the woman says almost singing as she follows behind Shadow, which kind of irked him.

Shadow walked a couple yards before turning to her, not slowing down at all, "I think you're mistaken. Common face, ya know?"

The woman chuckles, giving a sweet smile. "I think I do, Shadow. But you don't know me. My name is Gavin" the woman says, making Shadow stop in his tracks and look at her.

"How do you…are you the one who…" Shadow squints his eyes looking at her, trying to figure out how she knew him.

"I guess I don't _really_ know you, but I do know that your backpack is full of cash from the bank you just robbed. And no, I'm not who you're thinking right now" Gavin smiles.

Shadow was confused as to how she knew all that information and fight or flight instincts were starting to kick in. He kept his eyes on her as he used his peripherals to see an escape route that wasn't just running down the street. Gavin was about to say something when Shadow teleported himself into the mouth of an alley that was a half block back the way he had come. What Shadow didn't know was that Gavin was also a Meta, and one of the few with multiple powers with telepathy as one of her powers.

Blinking at the now dissipating wisp of black smoke, Gavin shakes her head and puts a finger to an earpiece. "We got a runner" she sighs. Gavin takes a deep breath and then quickly tries to follow him after locking onto his mind.

Shadow was hurriedly making his way down the alley, not looking back to see if he was being followed when he heard Gavin yell "HEY!" from the down the alley behind him. Shadow curses under his breath and takes off running. He was a bit faster than normal people, but he would soon find out that Gavin was faster than him, even in sandals. Shadow glances back at just the right moment to see she was a fraction of a second away from grabbing him and teleports again, except this time he would reappear on the roof of a nearby building.

Gavin would grab at him, only to grab at the black wisp of smoke and skids to a halt. "This damn boy is going to give me a headache" she frowns and tries to pick up his location again.

Shadow slowed his pace some as he ran across the rooftop, teleporting himself from rooftop to rooftop. He glanced behind him, not seeing Gavin following him any longer and slows down to a light jog, then ultimately stops and sits on the edge of an air conditioning unit to catch his breath. The sun was slowly starting to sink when Shadow could hear someone walking up a nearby fire escape.

"You're a hard one to follow, but teleporters are always predictable" Jason Fox says with a heroic smile as he steps onto the roof about 20 feet away from Shadow.

"You with Gavin?" Shadow asks noticing that he was wearing a similar jacket. He was trying to figure out how much of a threat Jason was.

"I'm her protégé, Jason Fox" Jason says confidently as if Shadow should know who he was. Seeing the look of "why should I care?" by Shadow, Jason sighs "You aren't from here, are you?".

"Nope. Just got in town a few hours ago" Shadow admits standing up and stretching his arms; Jason was starting to move in closer to him and he knew what was about to happen.

"Well then…let me introduce myself!" Jason would say as he closes the distance between himself and Shadow, admittedly faster than Shadow expected. Jason threw a strong right hook at Shadow's face, which Shadow evades by teleporting away and reappearing in the same spot, sending an uppercut to Jason's jaw then teleporting behind Jason and kicking him hard in the back. Jason stumbled forward a few paces before turning and looking at Shadow, who was carefully backing away to put more distance between them. "Too much of a coward to fight like a man?" Jason growls walking towards him. Shadow was no stranger to being in a fight, but he had no formal training at all, while Jason appeared to have been trained.

"Nah, I just don't feel like it" Shadow admits getting ready to run, only to be tackled to the ground with Jason on top of him, holding him down by his shoulder and pressing Shadow's head to the rooftop. "The fuck you think you are?" Shadow growls.

"Like I said, Jason Fox," Jason spits off to the side, "newest member of Hearth".


	3. Chapter 2: The Beginning

Chapter 2: The Beginning

"The fuck is Hearth?!" Shadow growls and squirms, only to get his head pressed against the rooftop harder.

"Several years ago, a small group of Metas decided to use their powers for good and to help the police with all the crime around the city. That group would go on to be called Hearth" Gavin would say floating down to the rooftop next to the two and look down at Shadow with a frown.

Shadow wasn't able to really look at Gavin besides her ankles. "So…you guys are cops?" he says as he gave up trying to squirm his way out of the hold. He didn't like being pinned down at all, but that didn't stop him from waiting until he got his moment to break free.

"No, we assist the police. We do the things that they can't." Gavin says calmly. Jason wasn't liking Shadow after being uppercut; his whole demeanor seemed to change from almost comically heroic to dead serious.

"Well isn't that cool" Shadow sarcastically says as he tries to roll his eyes. "So are you going to take the money back and let me go? I've got some places I need to be" Shadow sighs.

"Places like where?" Jason says putting pressure on the points where he held Shadow, who growled in pain.

"There's no need for all that, Jason. He is just a thief after all" Gavin would say as she tapped Jason's shoulder some. Jason would reluctantly ease up on Shadow, but still held him firmly. Shadow could tell that Gavin was the "good cop" of the two.

"So can this lowly thief be on his way?" Shadow asks with a smile. He was already plotting what he was going to do next when Gavin interrupted him.

"Not quite yet" Gavin says apologetically, "and also, I would NOT suggest trying what you're thinking".

Shadow blinks and tries to position his head to get a better look at Gavin even though Jason was firmly holding his head down. "That reminds me, how did you know who I was and that I was the one who robbed the bank?" Shadow asks. He wasn't a complete idiot, but he had his moments.

"She's a telepath, dipshit" Jason scoffs.

"…Among other things" Gavin says giving Jason a cold look, which made Jason ease up a little bit more.

"Great…" Shadow sighs, feeling Jason loosen up a little. He grins and quickly grabs one of Jason's wrists and teleports the both of them away.

"This kid is asking for it" Gavin groans then happens to look up in the air off in the distance. Shadow and Jason appeared about nine or ten stories up in the air above a street and were freefalling straight down with Jason below Shadow falling backwards fast. Jason was no longer holding onto Shadow, and Shadow had let go of Jason's wrist was grinning.

"YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" Jason yells as they were both falling, trying to grab at Shadow during his descent. Shadow grins and flips him off before teleporting away. "GAV!" Jason yells, hoping wherever she was she could hear him. Luckily for him she was watching the whole thing. Jason wouldn't fall all that long before he caught by a large gust of wind that gently caught him and brought him back to the rooftop that Gavin was standing on, her right hand glowing white.

"You let your guard down" Gavin says once Jason had sat a moment on the rooftop to catch his breath a moment.

"You could've stopped that from happening" Jason replies giving her a dirty look.

"You shouldn't have let your guard down. That was a lesson" Gavin smirks as Jason didn't want to argue with her.

"Think we'll be seeing him again?" Jason asks stretching his arms some after fixing his hair.

"Hard to say" Gavin smirks. She had read Shadow's mind.

It was over an hour after he had left Jason to freefall and Shadow was lost. He wasn't sure where he was or how he got there except that he picked a new direction at just about every intersection and walked. Judging by the now almost set sun, Shadow could tell he was somewhere on the west half of the city. He would've just hopped in a cab right after dropping Jason, but he figured that somehow Jason or Gavin would catch up with him and he didn't feel like fighting in a taxi. The area he in was starting to have smaller buildings with as more residential buildings were starting to become more and more common. It wasn't hard to tell that the area he was in was not the best neighborhood.

Streetlights were starting to pop on as the darkness kept taking over the sky. There were cars parked along the street that he was on, but he hadn't seen a car pass him in several minutes, making his walk rather silent besides the muffled sounds coming from inside of house and the buzzing of streetlights. He could feel eyes watching him from porches as he made his way down the cracked and ragged sidewalk, avoiding broken glass he walked. The old rusted chain-link fences sectioning off what little front yards there were, some with signs that read "Beware of Dog". He hadn't been on a main road for quite some time and he knew he probably should find one soon since the residents of the houses he would pass probably wouldn't help him.

He could feel somebody following him now, but he didn't bother to look; he knew it wasn't Jason or Gavin and he doubted that it was whoever was texting him. He didn't really want another altercation right now. He just wanted to get to where he was supposed to be. At the next intersection, he looked down both ways and happened to get lucky and see a convenience store a few blocks down. Not wanting to have his tail keep following him, Shadow teleports down next to the small brick convenience store under the one lone buzzing light that barely lit up the empty six car parking lot. He walks past a glowing neon beer sign and opens the door to go inside.

The place wasn't clean, but that was to be expected in an area like this. The fluorescent lights made everything look somewhat distorted and really made the dirt and dust show on the merchandise and the floors. This was one of those shops where you could get just about anything you needed for your home: off-brand potato chips and sodas, energy drinks that you haven't seen on the shelves in years due to the FDA putting a ban on them, cheap cologne, beer, toiletries, off-brand boxed food next to the brand-name equivalent that was always $4 more expensive, cleaning products, and some replacement parts for toilets and showers. The glass counter was covered in knickknacks and Shadow could see multiple glass pipes and bongs in the counter with hookahs on the back wall behind the two Arabic looking employees and hoses for said hookahs hanging above the register. The two men looked at Shadow like he didn't belong there but weren't going to turn down business if he had money.

"Can I help you?" asks the one closest to Shadow and the register. Shadow could see the other guy kept one hand concealed, but not well enough to fully hide the grip of a handgun.

"Yeah, can I get a pack of Marlboro reds?" Shadow asks. The man that talked to him gave Shadow a look before pulling a pack down from a holder above the register and tells him the price. Shadow pulls out the remainder of his wad of cash and pays the man what was owed. "Would you guys happen to know where this is?" Shadow asks showing the man at the register the text that he had gotten earlier. The man reads the text and speaks a language Shadow didn't understand to the other man, who replies back.

"Sorry, we don't know" the man at the register admits.

"No worries...don't suppose there are any taxis around here?" Shadow asks hopefully, only to be met with the man shaking his head no. Shadow sighs, thanks the men for their time and leaves the store. He lights a cigarette and teleports up into the air, teleporting himself multiple times across the sky before coming back down to the ground and landing in an area that seemed a little busier. He noticed when he was so high up that he had come from the south side of town. He also noticed that the city seemed to be a hell of a lot bigger than he'd imagined.

He had picked what looked like a main artery from up above, though he confirmed it wasn't the same street when he got to his first intersection. Wandering around never phased Shadow. In fact, he enjoyed exploring and ending up in strange new places. His mind was able to chart the places he went like a 3D GPS, which came in handy with his ability to teleport. The night had just begun, so the nightlife was just starting to gear up; clubs and bars started to look more and more active the further he walked, people started to dress in nicer clothes, and dimly lit restaurants started to get crowded for dinner. It was a Friday night after all.

His attention span was starting to fade, so he flagged down a taxi and hopped in, giving the driver the address, which caused the driver to turn and look at Shadow. "Are you sure you want to go there, man?" the driver asks in a thick African accent, "That area is not good".

"Yeah, I'm sure" Shadow sighs. "_Of course it's not in a good area. It's probably back where I fuckin' came from_" Shadow thinks gazing out the window, watching all the well-dressed people get their night started while also looking at street signs.

Shadow was half right. The taxi would him towards the Southwest area of the city, which looked eerily similar to where he was earlier, except fewer trees and more abandoned buildings. The street they were driving down didn't look _too_ bad but then again it was also basically deserted. When they got to the destination, the driver barely stopped long enough to get paid and for Shadow to get out of the car before pulling an illegal U-turn and speeding off back the way they came.

"Jesus. No need to overreact. Ain't _that_ bad" Shadow scoffs seeing the car be almost out of sight.

There were two nearly identical buildings with a parking lot in between them; the building he was dropped off at wasn't all that impressive; just a simple two-story brick building that was a bit longer than it was wide with two garage doors on the longer southern wall. The front of the building had a rusted steel door with a small barred window, a barred bay window that looked somewhat tinted, and a rusted metal arm that stuck out from the building holding a wooden sign that was a bit too faded to read. Peaking in the window, he could see a light on inside, so he figured he'd try the door even though the neon "Open!" sign wasn't lit. The door was unlocked so he carefully went inside.

The inside wasn't all that impressive from what he could tell; the small room he walked into was about 20'x10' with reinforced wooden counter that acted as a back wall with thick chain-link running across the top of the counter besides a small hole where the register was that looked like it could be easily blocked, a just as thick reinforced chain-link door with an "Employees Only" sign on it to the left of the counter that lead into the back, and a single light hung above the hole in the fence and the register. There was a small two seated green leather sofa sitting under the window on the black and white checkered floor that clearly hadn't been mopped in months. Walking into the room he nearly ran into an old candy machine near the door, that probably had the same candy as the day it was brought in how many years ago. In the dark behind counter were a few rows of old metal shelves full of dust and old cardboard boxes among random metal parts. He couldn't see how far back the shelves went but he did see a light almost straight back through behind the chain-link door.

"…the fuck kinda place is this?" he mumbles to himself then saw movement in the darkness. He kept his eye on the movement and was a little surprised when a girl appears on the other side of the chain-link door.

"You're late" the girl scolded with a contradicting playful smile. She looked to be in her early 20s, mid length platinum blonde hair, a light all over tan, and beautiful blue eyes. She wore a black tank top that barely covered her stomach to reveal a rose tattoo that ran down her pelvis on her right side and disappeared below the waistline of a light pair of shorts, a pair of dark tinted goggles hung around her neck, and she wore light gray skating shoes with accents of light blue.

"I, uh…I guess I'm sorry?" Shadow says a little confused. "Do I know you?" he asks wracking his brain trying to figure out if he knew her at all.

"Good, you should be sorry. We've waited here for you for _hours_!" the girl says trying look as serious as she could and opens the door for Shadow. "Hurry up! Oh, and lock the door behind you" the girl commands, pointing back at the chain-link door as she walked towards the light in the back.

Shadow blinked and did what he was told, following her through the dark and musty smelling shelves. He was unsure of who the girl meant by "we" and was trying to figure out who she meant as he walked across the dirty cement floor towards the back room. He didn't have much time to think though, he was already walking into the backroom. The backroom was relatively well lit and looked to be a mix of a mechanic's garage and a machine shop. There was an old red muscle car with the hood up sitting near the furthest garage door furthest from him, a counter that ran along the back wall with old looking cabinets above it, a counter that looked to serve as a workbench that ran down the right wall but wasn't as long, a lathe and drill press among some other machines that he was unsure of, and a small coffee table that sat in front of a ratty looking couch that was sitting against the wall the doorway was in with a weight bench in the corner perpendicular to the couch. Several toolboxes took up space between the two garage doors and near the machinery. The strangest thing to him, though, was that there was a dentist's chair sitting in the first stall of the garage, but somewhat near the counter on the right wall so that a car could be pulled in. Besides the girl and himself, Shadow counted three other people in the room with one of them working under the hood of the car.

"Look who's finally here" the girl says walking towards the center of the room and stopping to look at Shadow. Shadow heard a sigh and looked over and saw a man leaning against the right wall of the building near a doorway he hadn't seen that lead to a stairway. The man was tall with spiked bluish-silver hair, a squarer shaped face, and dark eyes that scowled at Shadow. He wore a dark blue shirt with a design on it under a black leather jacket, jeans that were almost black, and boots that matched his jacket. Shadow was unsure of the man's age, but guessed mid 20s.

"Sure did take your good ol' time, didn't ya?" said a guy sitting on the couch who looked to be about 16. He wore a burnt orange hoodie, dark jeans with holes in the knees, and nicer looking brown shoes that looked to be made of faux leather. The kid looked to be of Hispanic decent and had a mop of messy dark brown hair. There was something unnerving about the guy but might just be the fact that he kept his eyes narrowed and was smiling.

"I got jumped" Shadow says looking at the younger guy oddly. What he said wasn't quite accurate, but it also wasn't wrong.

"Jumped? What do you mean jumped?" The younger guy asks as if it were something preposterous.

"After I left the bank I ended up getting jumped by this dude from, uh…what was it called? Hearth?" Shadow said bluntly as the girl blinked and the younger guy cocked his head at what he just said.

"Wait, you're telling me that you got away from Hearth?" the younger guy asks sitting forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Of course he did. That's why I had him come to Junction, Rob" a voice calls out from under the hood of the car. The man pushes up on the hood, removed the arm that held the hood in place, and dropped the hood which banged closed. The man was tall, though not as tall as the man with spiked hair. He wore a black beater under a gray vest that revealed his muscular arms that were covered in tribal looking tattoos which continued onto his chest, jeans with oil and grease stains, heavy looking boots, and a gray bandana that kept his long red hair out of his way. The man was taking off a pair of mechanic's gloves as he walked towards Shadow.

"I had a feeling it was you, Reno! Shit man, how ya been?" Shadow laughs as he shakes Reno's hand.

"Been alright I suppose. I'm glad you decided to come" Reno smiles then takes a step back, arcing his hand to show off the other three people. "This is my crew, well, minus one. First off, the lovely Jo" Reno says as Jo gives him a wink and a wave, "The brooding guy over there is Haze, and the kid on the couch is Rob. Guys, this is Shadow. He'll be working with us from now on".

There wasn't much of a welcome at all, but Shadow didn't mind that. Reno had made his way over to the dentist's chair and sat down. Jo had went and sat on the hood of the muscle car and pulled a cigarette from a black box of Camels. She holds a finger below the cigarette and a small flame appears and lights the cigarette. Reno gave her a look and she hopped off with a frown. Shadow was standing there awkwardly as they all looked at him.

"So, uh… I got some of the money. You never specified an amount…" Shadow says pulling the backpack from his shoulders and opening it up to reveal several stacks of money. "Don't tell me that this was the only thing you wanted…" Shadow laughed a little nervously as he looked at Reno.

"Nah, I've got a few jobs in mind for you. Sit down and don't be so damn awkward" Reno says pointing at the couch, "Put the money on the table too".

Shadow does what he was told and Rob moves to count how much money was stolen. Rob checks the stacks and does some quick mental math. "Looks like just over $50,000. Not bad" Rob smiles tossing the stack he was holding onto the coffee table, bumping into a half full ash tray.

"Not bad for your first run" Reno would say while making a hand gesture at Rob, who takes out a few bills from one of the stacks and sets it on the table in front of Shadow. "That's your cut. If you want more money than that, I suggest stealing more" Reno grins.

Hearing him say that, Shadow sits back in his seat and crosses his arms giving Reno a "this motherfucker" look. "Ok. Ok yeah. I can do that. Though I didn't pin you as a greedy one" Shadow slyly smiles at his redhaired comrade before lighting a cigarette.

"It won't be just money, though having spare cash never hurt anybody" Reno said smugly as he crossed his arms.

"Works for me I guess. Sooo…where am I gonna be stayin'?" Shadow asks exhaling smoke.

"You can stay upstairs with me for the time being. It's not much, but it's home" Reno would taking a cigar and a box of matches from a little surgical table next to the dentist's chair.

"Are you sure we can trust this kid?" Haze asks Reno. Jo was given the task of showing Shadow upstairs to where he would be staying and Rob followed along, so it was just the two older males in the garage.

"Can you really trust a thief?" Reno would say giving Haze a serious look. Gears in Haze's head started to move a moment but would be stopped by Reno snickering. "Of course I trust him. That's why I had him come to Junction. Besides, I kind of owe him for saving my ass a few years ago" Reno states exhaling smoke from his now half smoked cigar.

"Do tell…" Haze says intrigued since he had never heard anything about the topic.

"Well…"


	4. Chapter 3: Undone

Chapter 3: Undone

Sunlight would fill the living room and pry Shadow's eyes open. His head hurt and his throat was a desert. He looked around the room without moving his head from the pillow someone was kind enough to give him after he passed out. "Fuckin' a" he croaks groggily as he sits up, only to slam his sore head into the bottom side of a table. He couldn't really remember much after Jo pulled out bottle after bottle when she concluded the tour. He rubbed his head and saw that he was shirtless as he crawls out from under the table and groans as he stood up. He was in the living room that was above the garage. It was a little crammed, but Reno didn't seem to mind. It was a typical living room with a tv stand and flat screen, a coffee table near an L shaped section couch, and a kitchen table against a wall with three chairs near where the small kitchen was.

Getting a better look around the room, he saw that there were bottles and cups strewn haphazardly across the room and Rob was sleeping on the couch with his hood up and his face buried deep in the couch. Haze was nowhere to be seen. Rubbing his face, Shadow walks around the corner and down the short hallway to the bathroom, not even turning on the light. When he was done, he comes out of the bathroom and sees the door to one of the bedrooms cracked. He peeks in the room to see Reno laying naked under a sheet with an equally naked Jo lying face down across his chest. Shadow would silently close the door a bit more than it was and went back down the hallway but stops to see another bedroom door.

"…Huh." He says not remembering the other bedroom from the tour but shakes his head. His head was pounding too much to investigate. He walks into the kitchen and finds his shirt balled up on the floor and a stack of three pizza boxes. He puts on his shirt and, after some quick searching, he found only three pieces left in the top box while the other two boxes were empty. He takes a slice of the room temperature pizza and grabs a cup for water, filling and drinking the cup three times before he walked out of the kitchen.

Not wanting to watch Rob sleep or wake him up, Shadow decides to go downstairs to the garage. Coming down into the garage, he sighs as he plops down on the couch, putting his feet on the coffee table.

"Went a little too hard last night" he mutters to himself before taking a sip of water. Even after drinking three cups, the water tasted like the nectar of the gods to his hangover. He knew it was a bad idea, but he pulled out his pack of cigarettes to find only two very bent, yet still whole, cigarettes. "…Sounds about right" he sighs grabbing one and putting away his pack. He pulls out his zippo and lights his cigarette, exhaling smoke. Shadow would sit there for a while; head leaning back over the back of the couch to stare at the ceiling as his arms stretched across the back of the couch. He closed his eyes and rested a bit, periodically taking a hit of his cigarette to make sure it stayed lit. Time felt like it was standing still.

"Hey. Don't burn the place down" a female voice says from somewhere near the doorway. He jumped awake and looked at the cigarette that was burnt almost to the filter and then to Jo, who was standing there in an oversized flannel, athletic shorts, and flip flops. He groans a little as he puts the butt in the ashtray, upset with himself for wasting one of his last cigarettes.

"Sorry" Shadow says debating on having his last cigarette as he moves over so she could sit if she wanted to. "Hope I didn't wake you" he smiles even though his head was still throbbing.

"You didn't" Jo says sitting on the couch and pulling her pack of cigarettes from her flannel pocket, pulling out two and lighting both with her finger, and handing one to Shadow who gratefully took it. Jo inhales a decent bit of smoke and then exhales. "…You didn't spy on us, did you?" Jo asks very seriously as she looked at him.

"I, uh, looked in the bedroom to see if you guys were up but then left seeing you both still asleep…I'm sorry" Shadow says looking down some, hoping she wouldn't be too upset.

Jo's eyes narrow on him a good long moment, inhaling smoke for as long as she held the stare before laughing. "I'm fucking with you, kid. I don't really care. Besides, I doubt you saw anything" Jo smiles.

Shadow blinked some, unsure how to read Jo, which made him uncomfortable.

"I heard you saved his ass awhile back" Jo states flicking the ash of her cigarette in the ashtray, "care to explain that?".

"It wasn't nothin' special. Just helped him out of a tight spot is all" Shadow casually says exhaling smoke. There was more to the story, but he was a little too hungover to go into detail.

Jo gave him a dirty look, "No fair" she says standing up and snuffing out her cigarette before leaving the garage rather quickly.

Shadow waited a long moment before saying anything, just in case Jo was hiding on the stairs. "Ok then" he finally says a little surprised. He would enjoy the rest of his cigarette before he decided to go back upstairs.

Getting upstairs, he could smell bacon and eggs frying as he walked into the living room. Reno was standing in the kitchen cooking in just gym shorts and his bandana with Jo sitting on a nearby counter eating a slice of leftover pizza. Rob was still sleeping on the couch. Shadow checked the time on his phone: 10:35am. He made his way over towards the kitchen and sits on one of the chairs.

"There he is! Welcome back to the land of the living!" Reno laughs cracking a couple more eggs into the skillet. "How's your neck?" Reno asks.

"Not bad. Thankfully someone gave me a pillow to sleep on." Shadow yawns as he rests his elbow on the kitchen table.

"Good, good. I'm surprised you're awake. You three went really hard last night. By the time I had almost caught up, you were crawling under the table to sleep and Rob had been passed out 20 minutes before that." Reno states flipping a couple eggs.

"Yeah…been awhile since I've drank like that" Shadow admits rubbing his neck. He thought he saw Rob stirring, but apparently his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"I bet. That'll happen around here, though not as often as it used to" Reno says plating the eggs as the bacon still sizzled on the skillet.

"Haze didn't stay?" Shadow asks, the smell of the food making him hungry.

"Nah. He never does." Jo says. Reno asked her to get some things from the fridge, which she does and sets on the counter she was sitting on.

"Gotcha…so what's the game plan?" Shadow asks as Reno gets down plates and starts to plate some food.

"First, breakfast burritos" Reno would say carrying a plate with eggs, bacon, cheese, and salsa in a tortilla over to the couch. Rob slowly rolled over barely enough to take the plate from Reno, who rolled his eyes at the younger guy. Reno goes back to the kitchen, motioning for Shadow to follow him, only to be met with Jo giving Reno his plate with a smile and a kiss before walking past the two men with her own plate. "Help yourself" Reno blinks before going and sitting at the table next to Jo.

Shadow made himself a burrito and joined the couple at the table. "And after burritos?" Shadow asks taking a bite of food and almost melting from how good the food tasted to his hungover stomach.

"You and Rob are going to do a job for me. Think of it as a bonding exercise." Reno grins.

It was later in the afternoon when an old red muscle car pulls up and parks along the side of the largest park in the city, Northside Park. The passenger side door opens and Jo gets out, moving the seat forward so Rob and Shadow could get out from the cramped back seat.

"You guys know what to do, right?" Reno asks, leaning over from the driver's seat so he could see the two younger men.

"Yep. We'll get everything taken care of" Rob smiles as he leans down some to look at Reno.

"Good." Jo purrs with a smile; she was wearing aviator sunglasses to hide her eyes. "You two play nice now" Jo grins before getting back in the car, saying something indistinct to Reno. Reno revs the engine once before the engine roars and speeds them down the street.

"…I'm glad you know what's going on" Shadow admits watching the car turn a corner and vanish.

"You're kidding right?" Rob asks with a furrowed brow and a slightly aggravated smile.

"Not really…The plan kind of flew over my head" Shadow admits, not wanting to look at his younger partner.

Rob looks at him for a moment; Shadow was unable to read what Rob was thinking since he always kept his dark eyes narrowed and a smile on his face. "I hope he's right about you" Rob would eventually say before motioning for Shadow to follow him.

The two would walk down along the park, crossing to go down a street perpendicular to the park. The two would pass multiple shops and skyscrapers full of people that were going through their days, though not nearly as many as there would be during the week. The streets were crowded with people, a lot of them in business attire, walking to wherever they were supposed to be. The smell of food carts filled the air as they went about their way. Rob and Shadow stuck out in the crowd, but most people either didn't notice or didn't care. Standing on a small crate was a clean-cut man holding a bible with outstretched hands, shouting out cryptic messages and bible verses.

"THE END IS NEAR! THE DEAD WALK AMONG THE LIVING! REPENT AND ACCEPT THE LIGHT OF CHRIST BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!" the man shouted as the two walked past him. Nobody seemed to pay any attention to the man.

Shadow followed the younger male as he weaved through the crowd and then stopped out front of what looked like an office building. "We need to go up" Rob states pointing straight up towards the roof, "So, get us up there."

Shadow took a step back and looked up above the building and shrugs, "Ok" he says before grabbing Rob by the bicep and teleports the two in midair above the building. Rob started to panic but was cut off before he could scream by being teleported onto the roof of the building he pointed out.

"J-Jesus! Warn a guy before you do that! Fuck!" Rob shakily scolds Shadow, who was trying hard to keep a straight face. "God that was so weird!" Rob says crouching down to hug his knees for a moment. Shadow learned years ago that teleporting felt weird to people that had never teleported before. He didn't remember how it felt, but others said it made them nauseous or terrified after popping up somewhere new.

"Ain't that bad, come on" Shadow laughs as he watched Rob finally stand up and shake his head.

"Whatever" Rob would grumble and spots an access door and pointing, "Get us inside there."

"Can't do that" Shadow shrugs.

"What do you mean you can't do that?" Rob growls.

"Can't 'port into somewhere I haven't seen" Shadow says simply.

Rob blinked at him a moment and grumbled something as he walks over to the access door and looks at the lock; he would hold his palm towards the lock and a small tendril of sand would slither out of the sleeve of his hoodie and snake it's way over to the lock and into the mechanism. It wouldn't take long before the mechanism clicked and the door swung open as the tendril retracted back into his sleeve.

"So…you have-" was all Shadow could get out before getting cut off.

"Control of sand, basically. That's all you need to know for now" Rob smiles going inside the building and down the metal steps until he got where he thought he was supposed to be. "Here's our issue: The doors in this stairwell are most likely alarmed. I'm honestly surprised that door I opened wasn't alarmed as well, but nobody expects to be broken into from the roof of a huge building. If I were to verify what was on the other side of the door, would you be able to teleport us in?" Rob asks with an intrigued look.

Shadow was unsure but shrugged, "I guess so?", which was all Rob needed to hear. Sand was already spilling out from Rob's pant leg and creeping its way under the door. Shadow was unsure of how he was able to tell what was on the other side but thought Rob could feel with the sand since Rob's eyes were closed. As the sand was retracting back up his pant leg, Rob was giving him a brief description of the area behind the door. "I can do that" Shadow said confidently and takes Rob's arm again and getting them past the door that was blocking their way. Rob felt a little uneasy from teleporting, but not nearly as bad as the first time.

The two were standing in a rather open room full of cubicles with a handful of people going about their routines since they were unlucky enough to have to work on a Saturday. The two would walk across the room, getting a weird look or two from the workers but that was it. Rob would lead Shadow down a hall and up to another door that had a small "FILE ROOM" label. Rob didn't try to be subtle with this door; he spreads his fingers of his right hand like a claw as much larger and thicker tendrils come out of his sleeve and shoot into the door. Rob clenches his fist, making the tendrils crush into the door a bit, and then rips his hand quickly towards his left side, forcing the door open and nearly off its hinges. The sand quickly retracted back up Rob's sleeve. Shadow was impressed.

"Here we go" Rob grins walking into the room to see shelves and shelves full of files and other important documents. Shadow was unsure what they were looking for, but it took Rob about seven minutes to find a folder full of papers. "This is all we need" Rob smiles and motions for Shadow to follow again. A dark look creeps onto Rob's face as he stands in the doorway and pulls out a bottle with a rag stuffed in the neck from somewhere Shadow didn't see. "Let me borrow your lighter" Rob asks, which Shadow obliges. He lights the rag on fire, gives the bottle a few light practice tosses, and throws it at the metal shelves. The bottle shatters and fire spreads around the point of impact, quickly igniting in the room full of dry paper.

The fire alarms started to go off and the sprinkler system was dowsing the floor they were on as well as the file room. "We need to go. Get us outside" Rob says looking at Shadow expectantly. Rob was not fond of getting wet. Shadow takes him by the arm one more time and teleports them down onto the sidewalk where they first were eyeing up the building. The warm July sun felt good in their damp clothes. The sirens of firetrucks were approaching from blocks away.

"HEY!" someone would yell from a few blocks down the street. Shadow looked in the direction of the yell and saw Jason running in their direction.

"Shit, it's that one guy" Shadow groans. Jason was across the street and was trying to fight traffic and the crowds.

"Is that the guy you tangoed with yesterday?" Rob asks before getting an idea and handing Shadow the folder, "Stay here". Rob swiftly moves his hand, causing a spiked wave of sand to streak out of his pant leg and grow exponentially in size as it made its way towards Jason, uncaring about anything else in its path; knocking cars off their paths and causing a bit of an accident before the wave slammed into a building in its trajectory. Jason easily evaded the attack and moved his attention to Rob after seeing the damage he did.

"That was uncalled for!" Jason growls making up lost time to get across the street. Shadow was getting ready for a fight when an old red muscle car screeches to a stop nearby.

"HEY! Let Rob handle him and let's go!" Reno yells out the window at Shadow, who looked between the car and Rob not wanting to leave the kid there. "NOW!"

Jason was eyeing up the car but decided to take out Rob instead, tackling Rob to the ground and pinning him by his shoulders. When he looked up, Shadow had teleported over to the car and was already getting into the passenger seat. Jason yelled something at the car, but Reno was already roaring down the street out of sight.

"Why'd you make me leave 'em, man? The fuck would you do that for?" Shadow was a bit upset with himself and Reno. He was very close to just going back and saving Rob.

"He'll be fine" Jo smiles from the backseat, "That guy can't do anything to him."

"Who are you, kid, and why were you with that Shadow guy?" Jason growls putting some pressure down on Rob's shoulders. Rob just laid there and smiles, looking up at who had pinned him. The firefighters were there and were making their way up to where the fire was, which was about dead by now.

"We had a job to do" Rob would grin.

"Don't fuck with me kid!" Jason groans shaking Rob.

"Too late for that" Rob says as his entire body crumbles into a body shaped pile of sand. Everyone watching looked very confused, but nobody was as confused as Jason.

"What the actual fuck"

The car ride was long and silent, but the three finally made it back home. The route that was taken was one that zigzagged aimlessly across town back to Reno's place; they didn't want anybody to follow them back home. Jo and Reno were talking about something, but Shadow remained silent and angry. They would walk upstairs and find Rob sitting on the couch playing an old video game on the tv.

"Wait. How the actual fuck?!" Shadow exclaimed as he tried to wrap his brain around how Rob could possibly be there.

"What? I made a sand clone and sent it off to do the mission. I never do missions in person" Rob explained as he kept playing his game.

Jo pats Shadow on the shoulder, "Told ya he'd be fine".


	5. Chapter 4: Burnin' for You

Chapter 4: Burnin' for You

Two weeks have passed since Shadow and Rob stole the file folder for Reno. Shadow still didn't understand what the point of stealing a folder was, but he honestly didn't care. It was an easy job. Since that day, Shadow had done several jobs with both Rob and Haze, and he also had pulled numerous heists across the multitude of banks in Junction City. He was becoming more and more infamous with each bank he hit. But he didn't let that go to his head. By now, he was getting a feel for how each of his four comrades were to be around, and he wasn't really surprised by what he figured out; Rob was an asshole but he was efficient at what he did, Haze didn't say a whole lot and apparently was constantly brooding over something, and Reno was Reno. Working with Reno never felt like work, unless it involved working on a car. The two got along famously and the two quickly became best friends. The two worked well together, yet Reno still didn't say exactly what the main reason he called Shadow to the city was.

That left Jo. Shadow and Jo never really got around to working together. Sure, they lived together in the same apartment as Reno, but they never went out and did anything together. Shadow didn't seem to mind though. He didn't want to piss off Reno by hanging out with her.

When Shadow wasn't doing anything with his newfound friends, he was exploring the city and mentally mapping as much as he could before going back to Reno's to relax. This is how he spent most of his days.

Today was different.

It was late afternoon when Shadow got home to find Jo lounging on the couch with her phone in hand.

"Oh! There you are" Jo smiles putting down her phone.

"Yeah..." Shadow says giving a slightly puzzled look, "What's up?"

"The boys are off doing god knows what, and I'm boredddd" Jo pouts.

"O-ok?"

"So you're going to entertain me!" Jo smirks deviously.

"...You sure? I'm not very, uh, entertaining" Shadow would say rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yep. You've been here like two weeks and we've never really hung out one on one. So we're going to change that today"

"_How the fuck am I supposed to entertain her?_" Shadow thinks with a nervous smile. "Alright. What would you like to do?" he asks.

"Nope. You're supposed to pick" She winks.

Shadow sits down on the couch for a moment to think, then cocks his head to the side once he figured something out, "I've got an idea".

"Sooo...you brought me to a bar?" Jo says standing outside of a little hole in the wall somewhere between Reno's and the downtown area. She was unimpressed. Being teleported made her stomach a little upset, but it was quickly going back to normal.

"What? You told me I had to pick. This is what I pick" he says holding the door open for her. The girl sighs and walks inside to sit at the bar, even more unimpressed by the inside of the place. Shadow would sit next to her and the bartender would take their orders before walking away.

"Why here of all places?" She asks a little intrigued. When someone took Jo out, it was always somewhere downtown and a little more upscale than the bar they were currently in.

"I dunno. Looked interesting" he grins as the bartender delivered their drinks. Two beers and two glasses of whiskey. Jo gave him a look and sighed, picking up the glass of whiskey and holding it up.

"Cheers" she sighs as she clinks glasses with Shadow and they both down their drinks. Jo exhales the fumes from the whiskey and looks at Shadow boredly. "So...tell me about yourself. I feel like I know nothing about you and we've been living together for awhile now."

"I'm gonna need a few more drinks before I go into that" Shadow laughs nervously as he takes a swig of his beer. Jo gets the bartenders attention.

"So let me get this straight. You're from some town in the middle of nowhere?"

Shadow nods sipping on a new drink. "Yeah, it's not on the map anymore" he chuckles ordering up another round.

"What does that mean?"

"Means what it means" he grins.

"Not fair!" Jo pouts.

"Whaddya mean pancakes are better than waffles?! Are you fuckin' serious?!"

"They just are! Waffles are just pretentious pancakes with their little grid patterns and fuckin' rough edges! Pancakes are the OG. Soft and fluffy."

"The fuck you mean pretentious?! I wanna fight you so fuckin' bad right now!"

"French toast is the best." One of the bar patrons would say from nearby the two, who were standing up at the bar in each other's faces. The two turn and look at him at the same time.

"Fuck off!" They both say.

"-and THAT'S why cats are better than dogs." Jo would say matter of factly. She looks at Shadow and both start to bust up laughing.

"Whaddayer brothers think of you being with Reno?" Shadow slurs a little bit as he takes a hit of a cigarette. The two had moved to a patio out back.

"Eh. Ain't really concerned about that. They don't come around and I only see them on some holidays" Jo admits, "An thass fine, ya know. Fuck them." Jo inhales smoke from her cigarette.

"Siblings fuckin' blow" Shadow agrees exhaling smoke.

"You got siblings?" Jo exhales smoke surprised.

The two would walk back into the bar with their arms around each other's shoulders, laughing at god knows what. The two sit back on the stools they were sitting on earlier trying to stop laughing but they were still giggling a few minutes later. The bartender delivered the two another round of drinks. The drunker Shadow got, the more he was leaving for a tip, so the bartender was gladly keeping the drinks coming. The two were getting some looks from other patrons but nobody was about to say anything to them.

"You ever gonna tell me about how you met Reno?" Jo asks giving Shadow a playful look. Shadow blushed a little, unsure of her intentions. He thought a moment while taking a sip of his drink then grins.

"No."

"The fuck you mean no?!"

"No means no" he grins moving his face a little closer to hers before sitting back on his stool and finishes his drink. "Finish your drink! We got places to go!"

"Now where you takin' me?" Jo looks at him puzzled. Shadow was motioning for her to hurry up, so she sighs and downs her drink and sets it on the table. Shadow gives a parting wave to the bartender as the two walk out into the warm night. Shadow lights up a cigarette and exhales smoke.

"Ready?"

"Not really, but ok"

Shadow takes her hand and they teleport up into the night sky and Jo squeals a bit scared as they free fall for a moment before Shadow teleports them again. The two would teleport several times across the sky, enjoying the aerial view of the lit-up city beneath them. Jo would be laughing hard enough to cry by the time they were back on the ground. Shadow had landed them in an alleyway somewhere downtown; he wanted to pop-up where he knew there wouldn't be anybody or anything in the way. Jo was still laughing when they landed and had her hands on her knees.

"That was a lot more fun this time!" he smiled before her stomach gurgled. "Oh shi-" was all she could manage before she bent over and threw up, using a dumpster as a support. Shadow was concerned, thinking he over did it and that she probably wanted to go home. He knew better than to show off like that with someone who was still new to being teleported, especially after a night of drinking. He was almost over to her and was going to apologize when she stood up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Alright! Let's go!" Jo says triumphantly with a grin and walks towards the street. Shadow shrugged and followed her. The area they were in had several bars and a few clubs. All of which were just starting to get busy. Jo blinked then looked at her and Shadow's clothes: short black tank top, red and black flannel, jean short shorts, and dirty light gray skating shoes; Shadow was wearing his typical ragged black long sleeve shirt, dark gray pants, and old black skating shoes. There was little chance that they were going to be able to get in anywhere. But they were going to try.

Jo eyed up a nearby club and got a little excited. Shadow wasn't fond of people and definitely did not like clubs. Not that he had ever been inside of one. Jo talks him into waiting in line to get in, which took long enough for the both of them to smoke two cigarettes each.

"No way" the large bouncer laughs and motions for them to move out of the way. Shadow wasn't surprised. Jo was a little upset as they walked past the open door. Shadow caught a glimpse inside and a smirk crept across his face. He directed her back to the alley they had came from, which confused and irritated Jo.

"I'm getting' us in there." Shadow takes her hand and takes a deep breath, then teleports into the dimly lit club. The two successfully landed in the club and Shadow let out a deep sigh of relief. The club was rather crowded, though most people were on the dance floor dancing in the multicolored lights to almost obnoxiously loud music. Shadow spotted the bar that was kept mostly dark except for the teal lighting that came from behind the bar. He made his way over to the bar and got himself and Jo whatever the house specialty cocktail was. Jo excitedly takes the drink then skips off into the crowd of the dance floor and disappears.

Shadow paid for the drinks, leaving a larger tip to the bartender to hopefully buy his silence. He takes a sip of his drink and leans his back against the bar, looking out into the sea of people having a good time. "_I'm not going out there_" he thinks then looks at his drink, trying to figure out what was in the drink that made it taste so good.

"Your girl left you?" a man near him says rather loudly due to the music.

"She ain't my girl" Shadow replies equally as loud.

"Not with that attitude!" the man laughs before clinking glasses with Shadow and walking into the moving mass of people.

Shadow blinked, trying to figure out what just happened and downs his drink. He bought himself two shots and another one of whatever he ordered before. He paid the bartender and took one of the shots. He grimaced some at the taste of whatever he got, remembering that he didn't like that particular liquor. He was puts the shot glass down and was about to take the second shot when a hand beats him to the shot glass. Jo. She takes the shot and winks at him. Her flannel was wrapped around her waist.

"Come on!" she says and grabs the drink he had ordered for himself with one hand and takes his hand in the other, dragging him out into the crowd towards the middle. Shadow stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do as Jo was dancing in front of him, sipping on his drink. She turns and looks at him with a smile that quickly turned to a frown when she realized that he wasn't dancing. She leans in close to his ear, "Dance!".

"Dunno how" he admits leaning in to her ear.

"Fine! Move with me!" Jo commands before turning away from him and pressing her body against his; taking the lead and making sure he kept up with her movements. It was hard to tell under the multicolored lights that covered the dance floor, but Shadow was blushing hard.

Shadow had stayed on the dance floor for about four songs before he had to get out of there. Which was a four more songs than he was comfortable with. He had gotten another drink and found a back door that lead to an outside patio, which is where the smokers and anybody wanting to get away from most of the noise went. With a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other, he sat on a picnic table with his elbows on his knees. There were a few people out on the patio but none paid him any attention besides the seeing who it was that came outside. He seemed to stay there for what seemed like forever.

"There you are!" Jo beams as she hurries over to him and sits on the table next to him.

"Yep…" he smiled weakly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothin'…Just not really my scene"

"Couldn't tell" Jo winks. "Um…How about" She says checking the time on her phone, "I go in for two more songs, then we can move on?"

"Sure"

Jo squeaks and gives him a kiss on the cheek before scampering off back into the club. Shadow smoked in peace.

About three songs later, Jo comes out looking very irritated.

"HEY! Wait!" a man says adjusting his volume and following close behind Jo.

"I said to back off!" Jo exclaims walking towards Shadow, who was starting to liven up at seeing her upset with some random guy.

"The fuck's your deal? You're the one that was dancing on me! H-Hey!" the man shouts and grabs Jo's wrist. Bad choice. Jo stops and stares at the man with an almost feral look.

"Just because I danced on you for a second does NOT mean anything. Back. The fuck. Off" she growls. Her body was starting to heat up, which caused the man to release her. Jo was starting to glow a little bit from her heat rising. The guy took a step back and Shadow was standing next to Jo.

"What? You her boyfriend?" the guy scoffs at Shadow, who was staying silent. "You some kind of cuckhold or something? Letting your hot girl go have her fun in the club then you jack off hearing about her night of dancing on guys?"

"No. And I definitely don't do that" Shadow lets out a laugh as he crossed his arms. Jo gave him a look and he stayed where he was.

"You better get before you get hurt" Jo warns with a growl.

"I ain't scared of you, bitch. Or you loser cuckhold" the man laughs.

"You should be…" Jo chuckles as she was glowing hot and her clothes were starting to catch fire, "You _really_ should be."

The man had taken another couple steps back and was confused as to what was going on. "I'm…I'm getting security!" the man cries as he turns to run back inside. There was the smell of burning flesh as Jo grabs the man's wrist.

"I'm not done with you" Jo smiles as the man looks at her in horror. Flames were crawling up the man's arm. Jo's tank top was eaten by the fire and her flannel was on fire at her feet, the flames had burnt through the sleeves and the collar. Some how the jean shorts she was wearing were only a little singed and were working towards being burned off as well. Shadow did his best to keep his eyes on the man, not wanting to see his best friend's girlfriend topless. The man shrieked in horror as the fire was consuming the rest of his body. The man's thin dress shirt went up in flames quite easily. The same could be said about all the product the man had in his hair. Onlookers watched in shock as the man failed to get away from the girl that was much smaller than him.

"Jo…JO! Either kill him or stop!" Shadow had moved into her view. He thought she went a little overboard, but also couldn't necessarily blame her. Jo looks at him then back at the man and her smile fades as she releases him.

"Clean yourself up" Jo scoffs as the man fell on the ground, writhing in pain as the flames mostly died down except for his hair and what little remained of his shirt. There was a small crowd near the door and one of the security guards came rushing out with a pitcher of water. Sirens could be heard under the loud booming music. Jo was not a heated now, which Shadow used to his advantage; he grabbed the flannel and Jo's bicep, teleporting the two out of the area that now reeked of burning flesh and hair.

"I probably went overboard…" Jo sighs and takes a drag of a cigarette. Her shorts had some holes burnt in them, but those were mostly covered now since she was wearing Shadow's oversized shirt.

"Can't really blame you" Shadow admits exhaling smoke. He was wearing Jo's flannel, which he had to cut off sleeves. The two were in another bar that seemed even trashier than the first one they went to. This one they could smoke inside.

"Yeah, but he probably thought he was gonna get laid and was just following through" Jo takes a sip of her beer. "Should've just burned his clothes off. Oh well. At least I didn't go supernova. Well. I almost did." She looked a little embarrassed.

Shadow took a drink of his beer. "Supernova?"

"Yeah…When I get super angry, I, uh, well, get hot enough to melt steel. Not a fun time for anyone involved.." She laughs nervously into her beer. "Reno had to douse me in water the last time. That was fun…" Jo remembered how fun It wasn't for anyone. "Problem with getting angry is I burn off my clothes. I hate that I gave that guy a free show" a laugh, "Thank you for being a gentleman and not oggling me." She smiled.

"No worries. I'm glad I could talk you out of it before you got any hotter" Shadow finished his beer with a slight grimace and checks the time. "Should we head back home?" He looked at Jo, who was nodding and downing the rest of her beer. He snubs out his cigarette and offers her his hand, which she took.

The two were walking from the steps to the living room and both seemed to sigh at the same time. The kitchen light was the only thing that was on, which didn't do much to light up the living room.

"Hey. Thanks for tonight" Jo smiles and gives him a kiss on his cheek. "It was a lot more fun than I expected. Now I know why Reno likes you."

"I can say the same to you" Shadow blushed.

"Get some sleep" Jo giggles as she walks towards her and Reno's room and takes off Shadow's shirt, tossing it on the couch before stopping and looking over her bare shoulder and looking him up and down, "…You can keep that" she grins before disappearing down the hallway.

Shadow just stood there for a moment, looking in the direction she walked. He would lay on the couch and replay the events of the night before he fell asleep.

_ "Burn out the day_

_ Burn out the night_

_ I'm not the one I'm not the one to tell you what's wrong or what's right_

_ I've seen suns that were freezing and lives that were through.."_


	6. Chapter 5: Hessian Peel

Chapter 5: Hessian Peel

_"Do you know when you'll be back?"_

_ "You know I can't really answer that" Shadow exhaled smoke, not looking her in the eye. "I heard there's been some sightings around here. I'll need to throw him off my trail."_

_ "I could come with you, you know"_

_ "I know..." He examines his cigarette_

_ "...You'd rather me hide out somewhere than go with you?"_

_ "I'm not confident I can protect you"_

_ "…You could just stay…"_

Bzztnnnnnnnnnnnnn

"Thanks for taking care of her" Bzzztnnnnnnnn. "Hey. Hey! You awake?" Reno would say as he turned off the tattoo gun to look at Shadow.

"Huh? Yeah, uh, I'm here" Shadow was trying to shake the thoughts from his head. He was sitting in the the dentist's chair located in Reno's garage.

"Did you hear me? I said thanks for taking care of Jo"

"Oh. No worries man...couldn't have her going supernova."

Bzztnnnnnnnn

"Yeah, that wouldn't have been good" Reno agrees going back to working on tattooing Shadow's shoulder, sitting on a roller stool. The two hadn't really said much to each other until now. "You all there?"

Bzztnnnnnnnnnnnn

"…Just a little hungover" Shadow lied. He spotted a magazine nearby and pulled it onto his lap with his free hand flipping through the pages. He was a little surprised to see that it was a machinist's magazine with a special article about prosthetics. "Didn't know you were into this kind of stuff" Shadow mentioned as he slowly flipped through thick magazine.

"I love working with metal. I'd say it's my favorite hobby beside working on cars or tattooing. Why? Do I not look the type?"

"Huh? Nah, nah. I meant more about the prosthetics."

"Oh! Yeah. I haven't really dabbled in that much. Just thought the concepts were interesting."

The sound of the tattoo gun would fill the silence between the two for what felt like an eternity.

"So…You have fun last night?"

"It was different, but yeah. The big city's a lot crazier than where I'm from." Shadow smiled.

"From what I heard, you didn't even go anyplace all that crazy. Just some hole in the walls and a club. We're gonna have to change that."

"Tonight?" Shadow looked a little concerned.

"No, no! Just some time in the future."

"Good. Even though I sobered up a bit towards the end, I'm still a bit hungover from last night." Shadow chuckled.

"You'll be alright, kid" Reno grins as he took a moment to wipe down the tattoo. The image of a grayscale phoenix with its wings spread would look at him after being wiped clean. "Almost done."

Bzzzzttnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

"You know I could've just gotten us down here and not had to pay for parking, right?" Shadow sighs as he lights up a cigarette outside of a parking garage. He didn't want to mention that his stomach was a little upset from the ride.

"True. But." Reno says putting his wallet away, "You know I do love to drive."

Reno would lead Shadow through the downtown area, filling him in on various things they would pass like a tour guide would. It seemed that Reno had insider knowledge on just about every restaurant and office building on their walk. The two would walk past an electronics store that had a few TVs in the window playing the local news. One of the screens had a news report with the title "Real Life Zombies?" and was documenting the gruesome murder of a person that looked like they had chunks of their body bitten off.

The two were completely oblivious as they walked past.

"You wanna know why I called you to Junction?" Reno asks standing on at the corner of a busy intersection, turned facing Shadow.

"Well yeah. It's been a few weeks and I know you weren't just using me as a quick ATM."

Reno would laugh at that statement and turn slightly to point up at the top of one of the biggest buildings in the city. It was one of the most modern looking buildings made of dark gray granite accented with tinges of red granite and a lot of polarized windows that covered all of the floors from the fourth floor up. The entrance to the building was curved with a horseshoe shaped drive used for the valet. A two-tiered fountain sat in the center of the horseshoe.

"That is why I brought you here."

"…A building?" Shadow asks giving him an are-you-serious look.

"Yep. We're going to take it over." Reno grins.

"I don't get it," Shadow says between bites of a cheeseburger, "You want to take over a building?"

"Not just any building. That building is a front for the Giallo family. They're the largest crime family in Junction with connections to just about every facet of the city. Police. Lawyers. Banks. Utilities. Even a few of the local government. I want that power." Reno says with determination.

"And taking over some building is going to do what exactly?" Shadow looked at him skeptically as he ate.

"Well…That building is where the head of the Giallo family, Stefano, lives and runs his organization. Mafia rule number one: take out the head of a family, and you take over their position. Simple as that"

"So you're gonna kill this Stefano guy?"

"If it comes down to it" Reno was casually drinking his Coke.

"And all of his underlings are going to go along willingly with your being the new boss?"

"They will. Or they'll end up worse than Stefano."

Hearing that, Shadow shrugged unconcerned. "Alright. So. We doing this today or…"

Reno spit out some of his drink and coughed, "Today?! No no no no no. Me an' the others have been working on a plan of action. Well, mostly Rob but still. One does not simply walk into that building and take out the boss. This ain't a movie."

Shadow gives him a look and a grin creeps across his face, "See, that's why you brought me here. _I _can just walk in there and take out the boss. Well, I'd bring you with me so you can do it."

"It can't be that easy. There's no way that somebody like that would leave room for something as simple as that to happen"

"Well…let's try tonight" Shadow finished his burger and looked a little disappointed that it wasn't quite what he wanted.

Reno squints and thinks a moment, locking eyes with Shadow's golden eyes as he contemplated the scenario. Shadow felt a little awkward with how long the eye contact lasted.

"Yeah. That'll do. But I'll have to prep a little first."

It was a few hours later and Shadow was laying on the couch, which he claimed as his bed since the spare bedroom's door was locked. He was resting his eyes since he couldn't get to sleep due to the sounds of metal on metal banging and metal being ground down. He originally wanted to nap, but Reno was unknowingly stopping that from happening. His ears perked up some hearing a door open and shut with somebody walking through the living room.

"Hey Jo" He says opening his eyes to see somebody who was not Jo in midstride like the infamous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film, looking at him like he wasn't supposed to be there. "…Who are you?" Shadow blinks.

"Aoi" the figure cloaked in the blanket said. Shadow could tell that this Aoi person was most likely female but she kept most of herself wrapped in a blanket. He couldn't see much of her face except for the glowing blue eyes that shone from her shaded face. Her legs looked sickly thin and pale. Shadow was about to ask another question but the girl moved into the kitchen, got some canned drinks with a frail looking hand, and hurries back into the spare bedroom and closes and locks the door.

"…What the actual fuck? Someone lives in there?" he sits up quickly and shakes his head as he heads down into the garage. "Ey! Who the fuck is Aoi?" he shouts over the loud grinding.

Reno stops from the grinding and looks up at him with his hair pulled back and his gray bandana on his head. "Oh. Yeah. I forget she lives her sometimes. Guess I forgot to introduce you."

"How do you forget somebody lives here?!" Shadow asks looking at him like he was crazy.

"She barely comes out of her room. Like maybe once a day for the bathroom. And that's pushing it."

"Why?"

"She's really into computers and the internet. She can hack into just about anything."

"So she just stays locked in her room? What does she eat?"

"No idea. I honestly haven't talked to her longer than like 20 minutes. Oh. Here." Reno would say lightly tossing him two handmade knives, which Shadow caught easily.

"Is this what you were doing down here?" Shadow asks forgetting about the Aoi topic and examining the blades, which weren't too bad quality wise; decently long with a nice sharp edge and Reno even wrapped the handle in leather.

"Yep. Just for you, big guy."

"Thanks man! You didn't have to do that" Shadow grins as he finds the sheaths that Reno had set aside for them and figured out where he would put them on his person.

"It was nothin' really. Smelting and reheating the steel isn't hard for me. Hardest part was sharpening and grinding."

"Forgot you're a walking furnace."

"Nah, that's Jo. I'm a walking catastrophe."

It was sometime after 10pm and Reno was standing on the roof of a building and looking out at Stefano Giallo's building. Most of the lights on the upper floors were off except for a few towards the top floor. Reno was looking through binoculars, trying to see where his target was located. He wasn't having any luck, but he was pretty sure he was where Stefano's office was.

"Let's try 'n get in there" Reno says handing the binoculars to a crouched Shadow.

Shadow took the binoculars with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Seeing the inside of the room, he nods and passes the binoculars back. "Shouldn't be an issue." He says getting one last puff of smoke before flicking the cigarette off the roof. He pulls the black bandana from his back pocket and ties it so it covers the bottom half of his face. He stands and puts a hand on Reno's muscular shoulder. "Been awhile since I've done this. You ready?"

"No, but let's do it."

Shadow nods and teleports them inside the office. But they didn't move from where they were on the roof. "Huh. Let me try that again…" He says trying again, but with the same result. "Oh what the fuck" he growls getting angry.

"Damn they must have wa-" Is all Reno could get out before Shadow was able to teleport the two of them. Except it was nowhere near the targeted area. Instead the two were flung up into the air above the skyline as if they had ricocheted off the building. The two were falling fast as they were separated from each other.

"GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!" Shadow yells pissed off as he fell away from Reno. He tried to teleport again, but nothing happened. The two were falling fast and if he couldn't teleport, there was nothing he could do. He really didn't want this to be how he went out, but it looked like he had no say in the matter. Shadow gritted his teeth and tried again, successfully teleporting himself over to Reno and grabbing him before teleporting again.

Shadow would appear skipping off of the bay like a skipping stone and would crash to a stop headfirst into the sand. Reno was nowhere to be seen. He laid there for a moment trying to figure out where he was as his vision was starting to wobble and spin. He coughed up some sand as he tried and failed to get up. He just laid there, his eyes getting heavier with each blink. He could see somebody approaching him, but couldn't make out who it was as he was starting to lose consciousness.

"Don't worry, boy. I have you."

The woman's voice was familiar but he couldn't focus enough to place it. He could barely see, but when and if he could, it would be very brief still shots; olive skin, white hair, blue canvas jacket.

Blue canvas jacket.

_"Shit."_


	7. Chapter 6: Hearth

Chapter 6: Hearth

_"…You could just stay…" _

_He was sitting on the bed looking over at the sleeping girl, blanket barely covering her naked form. He didn't want to leave, not like this. He didn't want to leave in the middle of the night, but he couldn't bare to see her cry. That couldn't be the last memory he had of her. But it was for the best. Probably. _

"_How could you do this to me!?" She yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Do you not love me anymore?!"_

"_Get some sleep" Jo giggles as she walks towards her and Reno's room and takes off Shadow's shirt, tossing it on the couch before stopping and looking over her bare shoulder and looking him up and down, "…You can keep that" she grins before disappearing down the hallway._

"_I'm a walking catastrophe"_

"_You piece of shit!" A blow to the head. Hit the floor hard. A kick to the ribs. "Be a man and stand the fuck up!"_

_Embers and flames. A black silhouette. Gold eyes._

Shadow woke up, eyes wide in a cold sweat. He sat up fast and almost got whiplash from being stopped by a chain that had his hands shackled on opposite sides of his body. Just how somebody wants to be woken up after being launched across a large body of water like a pebble. It took him a moment to realize he was in a shipping container and chained to the floor.

"I wouldn't suggest fighting the chains. You aren't _that_ strong." The woman's voice came from the entrance of the container, which was wide open. Gavin was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, frowning at Shadow. "You look a little beat up."

"…You would too if you skidded across the bay like I did" He growls and gives up trying to wiggle free of the chains.

"Not from that, boy. You over did it, didn't you?" Gavin walks over and pulls the collar of his shirt out some to see lesions starting to form across his chest like tree roots and running up his neck. Nothing serious. Yet.

"What's it to you?" he scoffs.

"Nothing, if I'm being honest. I've just never seen anything like this. I wouldn't strain yourself like that again or else I have a feeling that will look much worse" Gavin says letting go of his shirt.

"…Thanks. And thanks for pulling me off that beach. Can I go now?" he sighs. He was going to ask if she saw Reno but realized Reno would probably kick his ass for mentioning him.

"Absolutely not. You're a wanted thief who is lucky enough to be one step ahead of us. My colleagues and I don't find that amusing" Gavin says stone faced. Shadow gritted his teeth some as he looked up at her. "What I do find amusing is how angry Jason is getting for never catching you after how many run ins he's had with you? And here I am, taking an evening walk down the shoreline and who else do I find but you" Gavin winks at him.

"…Aren't you just lucky?" Shadow rolls his eyes.

"Not really. I was on patrol and happened to see you freefalling with somebody else. Just where were you two trying to go?"

"_Shit. So she did see him." _He thinks. "Does it matter where I was trying to go?"

"Yes"

"Fine," He sighs knowing that she would just keep pestering him, "I was trying to get into an office of a building downtown."

"Uh huh. Why _that_ bulding?"

"To see if I could?"

"Did you know there were wards up to block such a thing?"

"I do _now_."

"…You twit" Gavin sighs and the shackles unlock and fall to the floor. "I really should take you in. BUT. You're keeping the new recruit on his toes and I'd like to see if he can catch you."

"Are you sure about this?" Shadow rubs his wrists where the shackles were.

"No. But it'll just be our secret. That's why I brought you here and not a cell. Now get out of here before I change my mind." Gavin would say motioning for him to walk past her. "Oh, and might I suggest not teleporting for a little bit. I'd hate to have the next time I see you be you bleeding out."

Shadow eyes her cautiously as he stands and walks past her. He wasn't sure if he should thank her or just leave, but the warm smile that appeared on Gavin's face told him all he needed to know.

Shadow searched for Reno for a good bit before finding wet prints that crossed a street and seemed to disappear. The way the tracks were, he figured Reno had gotten a cab and left.

"_Good"_

It was a nice night, so Shadow figured he would walk for a bit. Didn't want to push his luck. He was a bit surprised with himself that he was even following Gavin's recommendation. But that didn't last long; Shadow had gotten lost somehow and decided to teleport down near the Giallo family's tower. That wasn't too bad. No signs of his wounds getting worse. He was looking up at the building as he walked, lost in thought, when he accidentally walked into somebody.

"Shit! Sorry man" He says looking and seeing it was a guy with multiple bandages and had most of his head wrapped and he was with a group of about four other guys. They all were wearing nicer looking clothes and gold chains. All of them had either a yellow bandana in their pocket or were wearing something yellow. The bandaged man looks at him and his noncovered eye recognized him.

"You're that fuck from last night! That bitch's cuckhold!" The bandaged man growls and the four surround Shadow, drawing knives while one drew a handgun from his belt and kept it aimed at Shadow. "You see what she did to me?! I'm hideous now!" the man shoves Shadow, who bounces off of a guy, who shoves him back to the middle.

"Ain't '_that bitch's_' cuckhold. I thought you smelled familiar" Shadow laughs, "And if ya ask me, I'd say this is an improvement."

The bandaged man throws a right hook and lands it right near Shadow's left eye, nearly sending Shadow down to the ground, but he caught himself and stumbled some. The bandaged man winced in pain since the punch pulled the bandages on his still healing skin.

"Got jokes, do ya?" the bandaged man grinned ferally as he also pulls a hand gun from his belt and shoves the barrel up to Shadow's forehead. "How about you take us back to your bitch so she can get in on the action. Maybe me and my guys can run train on her while you watch. Then kill you both. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Shadow wasn't having this guy's attitude, but he didn't let it show. He just looked at him stonefaced and rolled his eyes. "If yer gonna shoot, ya best fuckin' do it." Shadow threatens. The bandaged man pulls his gun back some and hits Shadow in the face with the barrel. Except Shadow wasn't there, just a wisp of black smoke before reappearing back where he was after the bandaged man pulls his gun away. The other man with a gun goes to shoot Shadow, but ended up shooting his comrade since Shadow had teleported again. This time when Shadow reappeared, he grabbed the gunman and disappeared again.

"Where'd they go?!" the bandaged man cries. What he didn't know was he would be answered very directly and not the way he would want; the body of the gunman would fall from somewhere way up in the sky and land on his comrade who was currently holding his chest where he had gotten shot. There was a sickening sound as the bodies came together and then hit the concrete below them. The bandaged man looks at the two splattered bodies in horror, only to see the other two get cut down by Shadow's new blades.

"Th-The fuck man?! They didn't do anything! You went too far!"

Shadow shakes the blood from his blades and looks at the man, pointing one of the blades at him. "No. _You_ went too far" he says shaking the blade with each word. "You really shouldn't've drawn your weapons if you weren't expecting someone to die. And you _really_ shouldn't've said all that shit about my friend." Shadow was holstering one of the knives and the bandaged man didn't know what to do. "I'll give you a moment to apologize" Shadow smiled.

The man was still holding the gun, but the gun was pointed towards the ground. He was speechless. There was nothing running through the man's head except that his friends were all dead.

"No? Ok then." Shadow grinned maliciously and disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

The bandaged man looked around and thought he was safe. But he was not. The last thing the man saw was thick jet black smoke all around him as Shadow was teleporting rapidly around him and carving the man with deep cuts. Once Shadow had his fill, he could be seen walking away as the body of the man slumped to the ground, adding to the gore of the scene. Shadow lit a cigarette as he walked, a trail of bloody footprints showing where he came from. He walked not even a half a block and his vision started to go blurry.

"Fuck" was all he could say as he finally lost balance and hit the pavement.

"_You went a little too hard, eh?" the older boy grins picking up a younger Shadow. _

"_Yeah" Shadow smiled behind tears. _

"_It's alright. I won't tell nobody!"_

_Why couldn't he see the boy's face?_

"_You're never going to amount to anything. You're just a waste of space!" The man says coldly._

"_Name's Reno. I'm from Junction City." Reno grinned, making the best of the situation._

_Junction City._

_Hearth._

"_\- Nice to meet you!" the girl smiles, holding her hand out for him to shake._

_Shadow was blushing hard and took her hand, "My name is –"_

"…_You could just stay…"_

Shadow jolts awake, breathing heavily. His shirt was off and he had bandages and gauze covering his chest and neck. He went to inspect the bandages and felt the weight of something on his wrists and heard the clanging of chains. There were handcuffs on his wrist with a thicker chain attached to the handcuffs and bolted to the cement wall beside him. It was then that Shadow realized that he was on a cot in a small holding cell.

"…Morning" a now familiar voice.

He turned to look and saw Gavin standing on the other side of the metal bars that were holding him in the cell. Jason Fox was leaning against the wall behind Gavin with his arms crossed, giving Shadow a dirty look. There was a muscular woman there with the two; she was wearing a black tank top and her boots and pants looked just like Jason's.

"…I take it this isn't the police station?" Shadow asked as the hallway the three were in didn't look like any police station holding area he'd ever seen.

"Correct. You're at Hearth HQ." Gavin spoke up, "We couldn't have you bleeding out in the police station."

"Isn't _that_ mighty kind 'a ya" Shadow said with minor sarcasm as he spun to face the three. "Thanks for patching me up."

"Don't be thanking us just yet" Jason scoffs, "Once you're cleared, you're getting transferred to the police station. Then from there, hopefully prison for a long, long time."

"Life sentence for robbing some banks?"

"No. For murdering those five men." Gavin would say giving him an upset frown.

"Oh."

"Yeah. _'Oh'_" Jason mocks.


	8. Chapter 7: Best Friend

Chapter 7: Best Friend

"So spill it. Who were those guys you massacred?" Jason growls irritably.

"Dunno. They must've attacked each other as I was passing through." Shadow lies lighting a cigarette and leaning back in his seat some. His shackles clanged on the interrogation table as he exhaled smoke casually, "I just wanted to go home."

Jason was applying pressure to the bridge of his nose. "Just tell me the fuckin' truth. We've got your footprints leaving the scene, your clothes are covered in blood, and we've got the murder weapons-" Jason says aggressively slamming his homemade knives on the table as well as an old looking hunting knife. All three were in a plastic ziplocked bag. "Care to explain that?"

"Like I said, they killed each other" Shadow shrugs as best he could.

"You're telling me five members of the Giallo family just decided to up and kill each other outside in the middle of downtown outside of their HQ. AND that one of them looks like they were dropped from a ridiculous height, but that was just them?"

"Well ye-"

"BULLSHIT!" Jason yells slamming his palms on the table as he stands.

Shadow blinked at him and took a hit of his cigarette, "Crazy, right?"

Jason wanted to make Shadow's blackeye bigger, somehow restrained himself even though he was fuming. "You leave me no choice. Gav?" Jason says over his shoulder at the one-way window. Gavin walks into the interrogation room and motions for Jason to leave, which he reluctantly did.

"I'll give you one more chance before I just enter your mind," Gavin sighs sitting down and snatching the cigarette from Shadow, snubbing it out on the bottom of her sandal, "Who were they and why did you kill them?"

Shadow groaned seeing her snub out his cigarette. "Like I said to ol' dude, I have no idea and they killed each other."

Gavin inhales and looks at him for a long moment. "Fine." She looked into his eyes a moment then cocked her head. "The bandaged man was harassing your friend two nights ago. Your intentions were admirable, but it looks like both you and her go a little too far."

Shadow was looking at her cautiously, not breaking eye contact. "…You're not going further than what you need, right?"

"Of course not." Gavin smiles sitting back in her seat and crosses her arms. "I would never probe somebody's mind without consent. Though I'm curious about a few things that I might have _accidentally_ saw" Her smile never left her face.

Shadow sits there looking at her, trying to figure her out and if he should answer. Then thought about how not telling her would be pointless because she could just learn whatever she wanted from his mind without him having any say. So why not just answer? "Fine. But-" He says pulling out a new cigarette and lighting it, "you have until I'm done with this".

An intrigued look crosses the woman's face. "Game on. Why are you a thief?"

"It's one of the few things I'm good at, so why not?" he says before taking a large drag off of his cigarette.

_"Oh. That's how he's going to play it"_ Gavin thinks. "Why are you afraid of water?"

"I'm not afraid of…" he bluffs then sees the look she gave him. "Fine. I _don't like_ water because I can't teleport out of it. Something, something, don't want to bring the whole body of water with me." Another large drag.

"Makes sense. I would also be hesitant with something like that." Shadow had less than half of a cigarette left and Gavin frowned. "Why are you helping this Reno character?"

"He's a good friend that I haven't seen in quite awhile. Besides, I ain't gonna just leave after coming all this way."

"All this way?"

"I've been on the road for a bit" he takes a smaller drag this time. He had less than a quarter left.

"Who was the gir-" was all Gavin could say before he inhaled the remainder and gave her a warning look as he exhaled smoke.

"Nope." Shadow would say bluntly while snubbing the cigarette out on the table, much to Gavin's displeasure.

"Fine. A deal is a deal" Gavin sighs and stands up. She crosses her arms and gives him a sad look. "…You're not a bad person, Shadow. But you did kill those men, and that cannot go unpunished. I'm sorry, but we'll be taking you to the nearest police station."

"Great…"

"…Do I _have_ to sit in the backseat? Shit is making my stomach upset" Shadow groaned from under the black bag. Gavin had decided that he should have something over his head while being transported away from their HQ; she didn't want him to escape or learn their location. That didn't really bother him, it was just riding in a car. There was something about riding in a car that made Shadow nauseous, especially riding in the backseat.

"Yep. Boss's orders" Jason smiles smugly from the front seat. Shadow would mock Jason under the bag, copying what he said in exaggerated mouth movements.

"So how's it feel to have finally caught me?"

"Not as good as seeing you get put behind bars."

Shadow was going to make a snarky comment but decided to keep his mouth shut. Not because he didn't want to say something, but rather he didn't want to throw up. He was trying to regulate his breathing to keep the bile down, but the black hood wasn't helping.

"Can you at least pull this hood offa me? Can't breathe well and if I throw up, I don't want to do it in this damn thing."

Jason sighs and looks around at where they were and decided it was probably an alright decision; Shadow was restrained and was hooked to a chain connected to the car's floorboard. There was no way he would teleport with a whole car. Jason reaches back and yanks the hood off of Shadow, who was admittedly looking a little green.

"Not big on riding in cars?" Jason snickers.

"Nope" Shadow scowls.

Jason was about to say something else when his colleague who was driving brought the car to an abrupt stop. "Why the fuck you stopping?!"

"There's someone in the road" the driver would say, motioning his hand for the person to get out of the way. Jason and Shadow both looked out the front of the car at the same time to see a red muscle car blocking the road and a man standing in the road about 25 feet from it.

It was Reno.

The redhaired man was standing in the street with his arms crossed, scowling at Jason and the driver. Shadow couldn't see anybody else with him, but that didn't really mean he was alone.

"The fuck is that?" Jason growls then gets out of the car, keeping the car door between himself and Reno. "HEY! Get out of the road!" Jason calls out.

"Give me my friend back, then I'll gladly get out of your way." Reno was keeping his cool.

Jason cocks his head hearing that, "So you're friends with this guy?"

"Yup. I'm not going to ask again."

"…Do you even know who we are?" Jason asks.

"Yup. You're Hearth. And to be honest, I don't give a fuck." Reno would say slowly approaching the Hearth vehicle; his body was starting to glow and steam with each step. "Last chance."

"Or what?" Jason says slamming the car door shut and was about to make his way to meet Reno, but something told him to stop.

Which was to his benefit.

Reno was about ten feet from the front of the car when he slams a fist to the ground, which made a primal sounding crack and splits the concrete into a wide fissure. Lava would bubble up from the fissure and start to melt the car from the bottom up. The driver panicked and got out of the car to attack Reno, who easily dodged the attack and replied with a strong, glowing right hook that sent the driver into the side of the car hard. Screaming and the smell of burning flesh entered the area as the man's face was almost gone.

Jason was frozen in place watching Reno lift a leg and bring it down powerfully on the hood of the car, causing another primal crack as lava formed at the impact site to melt the down into the engine block. The fissure widened after the kick, tipping the car nose first into the lava as the car started to melt away.

Shadow was panicking, trying to free himself and failing. "Fuck, fuck fuck! It's hot! You damn asshole! I'm locked up in here!" he shouts as Reno looks at him as if he forgot all about Shadow.

"Oh shit!" Reno grabs the back door of the car and yanks it open, scrambles inside, and melts the chain holding Shadow down. He yanks the younger male out of the car then helps him to his feet. Reno steps on the shackles between Shadow's feet to free his legs, then did the same for his hands. The shackles were still on Shadow's limbs, but he had all of his movement back.

"You forgot I was in there?!" Shadow growls and punches Reno on the shoulder, burning his knuckles with a growl.

"Dude was making me angry. My bad" Reno shrugs.

"How'd you even find me?"

"Had Aoi track your phone, but when that failed, had her scan the radios and other communication networks around town. She caught wind that you were picked up by Hearth and that they were going to transport you to the police station. All I had to do was wait."

"So is that who was texting me when I got into town?"

"Yup." Reno was basically cooled off by now.

"Huh. Oh yeah…" Shadow would say, remembering that Jason was there, "Why didn't you do anything, Mr. Hero?"

Jason just stood there in fear, watching the car slowly get eaten by the molten earth while the driver wasn't making any sounds now.

"W-was all of that necessary?"

"I suppose not," Reno sighs looking at the damage he'd done, "but it got my point across."

"Which was what? You're willing to melt whatever is in your way?!"

"…Sure. Let's go with that." Reno says walking back to his car with Shadow in tow.

"Just who the fuck are you anyway?" Jason calls out, making Reno stop and look at him.

"Reno the Epicenter."


	9. Chapter 8: Ember City

Chapter 8: Ember City

"IDIOTS!" Jo yells punching both Shadow and Reno in the face at the same time, knocking them back a bit. "You shouldn't have over done it and got captured. I appreciate what you did, but you could've ended up in prison!" The girl growls at Shadow then turns her attention to Reno, "And _YOU! _What were you thinking going alone?! What if you had gotten captured too?! Now they know your name and face!"

The two men were looking away from the platinum blonde that was starting to heat up quite a bit.

"Jo…look, I –" Reno says rubbing the back of his neck as he looks up at her, seeing steam rising from the girl's cheeks.

"You could've been arrested or killed! What would I do if that happened?!" Jo cried.

Reno walked up to the girl and pulled her in for a hug, holding the glowing girl tight against him. If the heat off of Jo's body affected Reno, he sure didn't show it at all. Shadow took this moment to go downstairs and hang out in the garage.

_"…You could just stay…"_

_ "Why does that keep playing in my head?" _Shadow thinks, exhaling smoke.

_Her smile. The look in her eyes._

He was lounging on the garage couch with his feet on the coffee table. It felt like he was down there for hours, but for all he knew it could've also just been 10 minutes. He didn't mind though; he was just glad to be back "home". What the younger man did mind was why _she_ kept popping up in his head. He sighed. "It's been nearly a year since then. Why now?"

"Since what?"

Shadow jumped some seeing Rob standing near the door to the shop.

"When'd you-"

"Not long. You good?" Rob asks cocking his brow, his perpetual smile never leaving his face.

"Sure."

"I don't believe you, but whatever. Boss man upstairs?"

Shadow nods, exhaling smoke, and Rob would make his way up to the apartment. Shadow would snub his cigarette out in the nearly full ash tray and follow Rob upstairs, only to find the living room completely empty. Rob gives him a dirty look.

"I thought you said he was _here_?" Rob scowled, which contorted his smile some.

"He _was_ here. There's only one way out and they didn't walk past me" Shadow shrugs, walking past Rob to check the fridge for something to eat. Rob grumbled something in Spanish and sat on the couch, scowling at Shadow as he made a sandwich.

"Cool yer jets. I'm sure he's just in his bedroom with Jo" Shadow rolls his eyes and sits on the couch opposite Rob, eating his sandwich.

After 15 minutes of awkward silence, Reno emerged from his room in just a pair of gym shorts. Noticing the two younger men on the couch, Reno blinked and stopped to look at them.

"What're you guys doing?"

"Waiting on you." Rob sighs.

"For what?"

"You wanted to talk strategy? You know, for overthrowing the Giallo family." Rob gives the red-haired man an impatient look, holding the folder that he and Shadow had stolen. The young man did not like to be late and liked everything to be on schedule.

"Aw fuck. Forgot that was today. Sorry, had something come up earlier today and it slipped my mind" Reno admits casting a quick glance at Shadow.

"I'm not sure what you two lovebirds were doing, but I don't really care" Rob would scowl at both older men, never dropping his smile. "I've waited long enough. Let's go get started. We've wasted enough time already" The young man would say before going back down into the garage.

"Lovebirds?" Shadow asks giving Reno a look.

"He thinks he's funny. But to be fair, we have been hanging out quite a bit" Reno laughs, motions for Shadow to follow him, and disappears down the steps.

"So by these blueprints, it seems there's only one elevator that goes to the top."

"Yeah, so we would need to take this elevator up to get to the right floor then work our way over. Unseen of course." Rob would say tracing the route on the blueprint.

"Ideally we can do this without being seen. At least until we get up to the floor we need. From there, ol' boy should be able to get us to the next elevator" Reno mentions pointing to Shadow.

"So you really can't just get us up to where we need to go?" Rob sighs looking at Shadow, starting to have doubts about Shadow's use for the team.

"Just tried to get me an' Red up there and can confirm that I can't get up there. We gotta go the long way" Shadow reluctantly admits. He still wasn't happy with himself for not being able to get passed the wards. There was nothing he could do, to be quite honest, but it still dug at him.

"Fuckin' lovely" Rob groans, "Fine. _Fine_. You should still look over these blueprints. _Maybe _you'll be of some use once we're inside."

Shadow stayed quiet after that comment and started to look over the building's layout. He didn't want to admit it, but he was not fond of teleporting someplace after only seeing it from one angle; he had too many close calls teleporting to places he had seen in pictures but not in real life and didn't really want to make that gamble if he didn't have to.

"So. Contingency plans?"

"Well…"

Later in the evening, Shadow was incredibly restless. He couldn't sleep. There was nothing on TV. Jo and Reno were off doing whatever. He thought about talking to Aoi, but knew the door would be locked as it typically was. His body was still hurting a bit, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from doing…something. So he grabs his backpack and heads outside, walking towards the downtown area. An hour into his walk, he decided that was long enough and teleported himself across the sky, being sure that he wasn't pushing himself too hard. He would land somewhere downtown on the roof of a tall building, looking out at the sea of lights.

"Where to go tonight…" he says to himself as he scans the tops of the nearby buildings. He debated internally on the numerous banks he's already been to and even a few he hadn't hit, but ultimately decided on one of the first banks he'd robbed. He pulls his black bandana from his backpack and ties it around the back of his head then disappears in a wisp of black smoke.

There was something small up in the air hovering way above where Shadow was standing unaware; a very faint mechanical whirring and a small red light. The small machine hovered in place for a moment before zipping off across the night sky.

"You'd think they would've upped their security by now" Shadow would say to himself as he reappears in an alley a few streets away from the bank. He unties the bandana from his head with a slight jolt of pain across his chest. "Guess I'm not quite fully healed yet.." He sighs, not wanting to reopen his wounds. With a backpack full of money and his bandana in his back pocket, he strolls towards the nearest street.

There was the sound of metal clanging. Three large humanoid robots stood in his way of walking onto the street, their single red eyes glowing in the night.

"The fuck is this?!" Shadow growls, not liking the situation he had found himself in. Shadow was measuring up the difficulty of how the fight would go then realized something important: he had never fought a robot before. Especially not _three_ robots at once.

The three robots started to walk towards Shadow and the young man had another important realization: he didn't have any weapons on him.

"Shit!"

There was a heavy metallic sound as something dropped behind him. Just as Shadow was about to turn around, a slimmer, more agile robot hit him hard in the back of the head. The young man hit the ground and everything went black.

Black.

There was a loud clank as a single industrial sized light was turned on, engulfing Shadow in light as he sat on a chair with another black bag over his head.

"I've been wanting to meet you" a smooth voice would call out from somewhere.

"Yeah? Then why don't you take this damn thing off so I can see your pretty face" Shadow scoffs. The black bag would be ripped from his head from behind, but Shadow couldn't see anybody behind him. In fact, except for the light he was sitting in, he couldn't see anything but black around him. He mumbled something to himself about the irony of him still not being able to see anything.

"For a thief with access to nearly limitless money, why do you wear such old, ratty clothes?"

"I dunno man, they're just comfortable" he says being caught off guard. He looks down at what he was wearing, and it hit him that his clothes were covered in dried blood, especially his shirt. Shadow shakes his head. "The fuck is this all about?"

"You see, you moved into my territory; stealing from banks across the city. That was _my_ territory. Except, unlike _you_, I haven't ever been face to face with Hearth." Shadow could hear movement in the darkness, but still couldn't see the man. "Do you know why that is?"

"…Can't say I do" Shadow admits shrugging nonchalantly. Dozens of red lights would turn on in the darkness and move forward with the sound of moving machinery, revealing dozens of humanoid robots with mechanical eyes shining red.

"Because _I_ don't pull off the heists" the voice says coldly.

"So what? You bring me here to kill me?" Shadow asks stoically, even though he was nervous on the inside.

"No. I brought you here to offer you a job."

That caught Shadow off guard.

"What kind of job?"

"One I'm sure only you can do" the man would say emerging some from the darkness. The man was older, easily in his 60's. Gray beard, with matching long hair. One pale colored eye piercing Shadow, especially after he saw the man's eye patch. The man was wearing an older dark colored suit. The man kept his hands behind his back as he stood mostly in the darkness. The robots seemed to move in a bit closer in a circle around him.

"…I'm guessing I have no choice in the matter?"

"That would be correct."

"And what makes you think that I'll do what you tell me?" Shadow gives the one-eyed man a look.

"If you don't, my creations will pay a visit to your friends…" the man tosses pictures one at a time to the ground of Reno, Rob, Haze, and Jo, "and they'll bring them back here in pieces."

Shadow would stare at the pictures a moment then up into the man's pale eye with a snarl, "Fine. What do I have to do?"

"That's what I like to hear!" the man's face contorts some to show a toothy smile. "You will be stealing two objects for me that are very necessary for my goal."

"And that is?"

"…You will find out in time, young man." One of the robots would come over to Shadow and free him of his restraints. "As for now…" the man emerges from the shadows and offers a metal hand for Shadow to shake, "Call me Mr. Richards."


End file.
